Sri Lanka’s local governments go digital

The Ministry of Public Administration, Provincial Councils, and Local Government in Sri Lanka has started a program aimed at digitalizing services and payments across all 341 local government institutions, which include 29 Municipal Councils, 36 Urban Councils, and 276 Pradeshiya Sabhas.

This initiative is part of the government’s broader digitalization efforts to enhance service delivery and payment processing through online platforms. It is supported by the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) and aligns with the national digital public infrastructure strategy.

A recent meeting held in Colombo, co-chaired by Deputy Minister of Provincial Councils and Local Government, Ruwan Senarath and Eng. Eranga Weeraratne, the Deputy Minister of Digital Economy, focused on strategies to expedite the implementation of this program.

“The goal is to provide the public with the ability to access services and make payments online, thus abolishing the need for physical visits to local government offices,” Weeraratne told Biometric Update.

Services targeted for digitalization include tax payments, service payments, water bill payments, license and certificate issuance, streetlight management, parking payments, and complaint lodging.

“The digitalization initiative will improve user experience by making services more efficient, reliable, and cost-effective, and also reduce inefficiencies and corruption within local government institutions,” Senarath said.

The meeting was attended by key officials from both ministries, as well as representatives from GovTech and LankaPay, highlighting a collaborative approach to achieving these objectives.

Article Topics

digital government  |  digital ID  |  digital payments  |  digital public infrastructure  |  Sri Lanka